


Number Switch

by QuarantineWriter



Series: Haikyū!! Hijinks!! [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Canon Compliant, First work so idk how tagging works yet, Friendship, Gen, I didn’t put anything in the relationship part since the whole team interacts with each other, If you’re looking for anything dramatic there’s nothing here, Just dorks being dorks, Slice of Life, and volleyball of course
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-09
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-15 19:09:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29938068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuarantineWriter/pseuds/QuarantineWriter
Summary: Ukai helps the boys let off some stress before the preliminaries with a fun volleyball match, though there is a small catch.
Series: Haikyū!! Hijinks!! [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2201730
Kudos: 2





	Number Switch

It's the Karasuno volleyball team's last practice before they enter the Spring High Preliminaries. No going back. The decision of the third-years to stay is final, and if they want to go to nationals. They'll have to win the finals. They may have improved over the past few months, but will it be enough? The other teams have surely improved as well. They also wanted to get back at Aoba Johsai for crushing them during the Interhigh tournament. So many thoughts running through their heads.

_I can't let them be so stressed before the preliminaries,_ thought Ukai. _We need some good team bonding._

He noticed Kinoshita and Narita stretching with the others in the corner, and he suddenly got an idea. It involved with a little something they both did during their match agains Date Tech and Seijoh. Once the team finished their stretches, they approached their coach to see what drills they will have for the day.

"Alright, today we'll be taking it easy with a 6-on-6 match until twenty points only. I don't want to stress you guys out," Ukai started separating the teams on a white board, "so here are the teams. Daichi, Kinoshita, Kageyama, Tsukishima, Asahi, and Hinata on one team. And Sugawara, Tanaka, Nishinoya, Yamaguchi, Ennoshita, and Narita on the other. Any questions?"

Raising his hand, Nishinoya asked, "Sir, what will happen if I get rotated to the front? There's no one I can switch with."

"Just switch with someone in the back. Any other questions?"

Everyone else stayed silent.

"Ok then, grab the boxes with the practice jerseys inside and before putting them on, I want all of you to come back here again with the boxes."

Though the team was confused to what their coach wanted, they complied with his orders and went to get the boxes. Meanwhile, Kiyoko and Yachi asked what he was planning.

"You'll see," was all the coach replied with.

The team came back carrying two separate boxes: one contained yellow ones and the other had turquoise jerseys. Ukai searched the boxes and gave each member a jersey.

"Sir, you gave none of us the right jersey," Daichi said.

"Exactly. Now we are going to have one set and the whole time, all of you will be wearing different numbers. And! You can only refer to each other with the number you currently have," Ukai said.

————————————————————————————————————

(This isn't part of the fic. Here's the list of the current numbers they have, so you can keep track:)

Turquoise: Daichi- 6, Kinoshita- 8, Kageyama- 11, Tsukishima- 9, Asahi- 5, Hinata- 2

Yellow: Sugawara- 10, Tanaka- 3, Nishinoya- 12, Yamaguchi- 4, Ennoshita- 1, Narita- 7————————————————————————————————————

"Well this is going to be... chaotic," Sugawara said.

"But hey! It'll be fun! Either way, our team is going to win! Ain't that right, bro?" asked Tanaka while raising his hand for a high five.

"That's right, bro!" replied Nishinoya and proceeded to slap Tanaka's hand with all his might, earning a wince from the wing spiker.

While weaving his way through the chaotic second-years Kageyama asked, "Sir, where did you even get this idea?"

"Ask Kinoshita and Narita."

Those who didn't normally stay on the bench looked over to the two bench-warmers in question.

"Heh, well you see about that..." started Narita.

"...we may or may not have switched jerseys during the matches against Date Tech and Aoba Johsai," finished Kinoshita.

"They thought none of you would really notice, considering that they don't get much play time and you guys are busy playing," Yamaguchi said.

"And it isn't exactly illegal... right?" Hinata asked.

"Of course it isn't, shrimpy," Tsukishima said.

Asahi got in between the two first-years and started repeating, "Please don't fight" over and over like a mantra.

Daichi was about to tell them to calm down, but was eventually beaten by Ennoshita. He smiled at the second-year. After all, he was most likely to become the next captain even if he doesn't believe it yet.

"Ahem. Are we going to start or just mess around?" asked the coach.

Everyone immediately put on their jerseys and started rushing to their places, including Yachi and Kiyoko who would be keeping track of the score. Each team huddled up in a circle to discuss their game plan.

"Ok, guys, we are quite at a disadvantage but don't worry," Sugawara said.

"What disadvantage exactly?" Tanaka asked.

"If you haven't noticed, you and Nishinoya are the only starters on this team," replied Yamaguchi.

"Don't get all negative on me yet. Now back to what I was trying to say," the setter continued. "Our team is balanced and there's no glaring weaknesses. We have solid servers, receivers, spikers, and you get the point."

"True."

"We probably also have another advantage," added Ennoshita.

"What exactly?" Narita asked.

"The other team is probably going to struggle a bit with the change in numbers and being forced to be called out using it."

"Oh right! Shouyou really got attached to having the number ten, because of the Tiny Giant," Nishinoya butted in.

"Don't think we're in the clear either. I got really used to having six and who knows how much I'll mess up. Add the fact we have to refer to each other using numbers now," Ennoshita said.

"At least we know you won't mess up as much as those two," Narita said, as he pointed to Tanaka and Nishinoya. A few cries of disagreement from them were heard.

"I don't want any of you guys fighting. Understand?" Daichi asked.

Everyone nodded.

Daichi continued, "We have a good lineup right now and as long as we keep our head in the game, this is our win!"

Tsukishima looked over at Kageyama and Hinata already fighting, with Asahi trying to get them to calm down. "If some of us still have our heads, that is."

"How dare you call me Tsukishima!"

"What? You have his number right now!"

"Just because I have the number doesn't mean I am him!"

"Guys, please calm down!"

Rubbing his face, Daichi sighed, "Kinoshita... can you... do this for me?"

"Yes, sir!" said Kinoshita with a salute, he then proceeded to give Kageyama and Hinata a bonk on the head.

"Now. What did I literally just say? The same thing all of you agreed NOT to do?" Daichi asked.

"Sorry, captain," replied both troublemakers.

The blow of a whistle was heard. Let the game begin!————————————————————————————————————

Daichi and Ennoshita were the chosen representatives of each team. They walked up in front of Ukai who was holding a coin. Ennoshita chose heads, while Daichi chose tails. With a flick of a thumb, Ukai sent the coin flying up. They let the coin rattle down on the floor, spinning a bit before it came to a stop.

Heads ended up being the side facing upward. Ennoshita chose to start the game off for his team by serving.

S _o they start off with a serve. It's fine, we have Daichi at the back with Asahi and Kinoshita. All of which are good or solid receivers,_ Tsukishima thought. He was confident they'll win this one due to having majority of the starters... until he saw who was first to serve. It was Yamaguchi.

He worked hard the entire time they were at the training camp. Ever since that flopped serve during the match with Seijoh, he would practice serves more than anything else. He practiced to the point where even Nishinoya struggled to receive it sometimes. This is the first time he'll be using this serve in an actual match (well this is only a game for fun, but you get the point).

He was scared and unconfident in his ability, but one assuring look and a thumbs up from Sugawara changed that. Out of all the first years, Yamaguchi was one of, if not the closest to him. Together they would always talk about the current state of both teams during games on the bench, cheer their teammates on and much more. All the tension suddenly disappeared.

Yamaguchi threw the ball up to start the serve. That was a great toss. He started approaching. Now to aim it near the line, not too far where it goes out but enough where they they believe it will. He aimed it towards Kinoshita who was the least skilled between the three receivers of the other team.

"Seve—er, Eight, it's going out!" Daichi yelled.

The ball landed right before the edge of the line. Praises were heard from the other team and Yamaguchi couldn't believe his eyes.

_Looks like training paid off,_ Tsukishima thought.

"We believe in ya!"

"Get us another one, Yamaguchi!"

_Don't worry. I'm planning to._

Another ball up, although this one was rather too high. He hit the ball towards Daichi, due to being in a quick state of panic. Daichi received it and the ball was up in the air.

"Gahh! Sorry guys," Yamaguchi said.

"Don't worry about it we'll get the next point," reassured Sugawara.

Before he got the ball in his hands Kageyama shouted, "Two, right side!"

He set the ball perfectly, but no one was there. The ball landed with a thud. Apparently, Hinata had gone up to the left.

"You idiot! What were you doing? I said to the right!"

"But Sugawara is on the other team?"

"Look at your jersey."

"Oh..."

"And so it begins," muttered Asahi, earning a chuckle from Daichi.

A couple rallies went on and now the score was 8–5, yellow team in the lead thanks to Yamaguchi's serves and Hinata and Kageyama messing up repetitively.

"We're losing because of you now! Get it in that tiny brain of yours that you are no longer ten!"

"You're the one who got us two rotation errors, King," teased Tsukishima.

"Oh, shut up."

"Guys, we have an opportunity. Sugawara is in the back now," said Daichi, trying to give his teammates a reason to calm down.

"Well then, let's make use of it shall we?" Kinoshita said as he looked across his teammates.

Tanaka whispered, "Hey, you all know what to do. Sugawara is in the back so let's do our all-out synchronized attack."

Nishinoya put a grin on his face. "Oh, you bet."

"Just make sure not to forget your number again Tanaka," said Sugawara.

"What—since when did I forget?"

"Since the last three points," replied an unamused Ennoshita.

"We're honestly lucky to still be in the lead," added Narita.

"Why are all of you doing an all-out synchronized attack on me?!” questioned the wing spiker.

Daichi served the ball going to Ennoshita, who received it perfectly. Nishinoya studied the path of the ball and approached where he believe was the highest point he could "set" it from.

Tsukishima noticed all other opposing members running in synch. "Ni—I mean Eleven, Five, keep closer attention to Tanaka and Sugawara. Nishinoya usually sets to them in these situations."

Upon hearing “five”, Tanaka paused while running. "Wait, what?"

"Tanaka, what are you—oh shoot," Ennoshita cut himself off when he realized he stopped running as well, while trying to scold Tanaka.

"Ok, it narrowed down to Sugawara or Narita. Yamaguchi has never practiced a back attack," Tsukishima said.

Nishinoya finally came in contact to the ball. _Alright, I'm high enough but not over the net. All the blockers and receivers are focused on Narita and Suga. Perfect._

And that was when one of the most confusing things happened that day. The ball landed over the other side, but the spikers didn't even touch it.

"What?" was all anyone could say, even Tsukishima who isn't easily fooled.

Yuu Nishinoya did a setter dump. He looked at the floor on the other court and saw Hinata, Kinoshita, and Daichi, all who were lying down on the floor in an attempt to receive the dumped ball. The first of the three though, had the looks that screamed

"Noya is so cool!"

Nishinoya looked back to his teammates, all confused to what happened also. "What? It was just a setter dump."

"Dude, since when did you practice that?" Tanaka asked.

He got nothing more than a shrug from his best friend. The libero looked back at Tsukishima. "I guess I fooled you good, didn't I?"

"I should've noticed how when you approached the ball, it seemed like you were going for a spike 'cause you're so short you can't really get the ball over the net by jumping like you usually do," replied the middle blocker who was trying to hide the fact he was fooled by Nishinoya of all people.

The libero ignored the last part.

"That was amazing, Noya! Do you think you'll ever do that in a game?" asked Sugawara.

"Probably not, its too risky and the one I just did was definitely a fluke."

"Upperclassman! Please teach me!" Hinata shouted from the other side of the net.

The score is now 11–7

"Damn it, we need to catch up to them," said an angry Kageyama.

"Eight, you're up to serve. Think you can aim the ball at Yamaguchi as much as possible?" asked the captain.

"Yep, I'll try to get us some service aces."

Daichi continued but lowered his voice, "Kageyama, forget the quick attack and send it to me, I'm in the front now. We can't lose our heads, especially now. We are at our weakest defensively. Both Hinata and Tsukishima are at the back. At least we have Asahi in the front, so the offense is doing well."

Kinoshita served the ball and managed to get a service ace. He did so another time... and another.

Kageyama looked at the score board and hopes of winning sparked. 11–10. _We can turn this game around._

"I'm so sorry," said a frustrated Yamaguchi.

"Shake it off, we can get the next one. Twelve, do your best to cover more of the area," ordered the vice-captain.

Yamaguchi looked at his upperclassman confused, "But I'm missing all the receives?"

"Look at your jersey."

"Oh."

Kinoshita served it up again. This time however, it was received by Nishinoya. The ball went over the net and into the other side.

"Chance ball!"

The ball was about to land in Kageyama's hands, when saw Asahi approaching the net in front of him, while Daichi was behind. The side where Ennoshita is... an idea struck. "Number Six, spike!"

Ennoshita was momentarily stopped, but that split-second was enough. The blockers have attempted to get in the way, but they were also a split-second too late from being more focused on Asahi.

***Smack***

The ball flew straight down, right beside Ennoshita's left foot.

11–11 This game was certainly starting to get more interesting. A time-out was called to give both teams a small break.

"You guys do realize this is only a game for fun, right?" Yachi asked while giving water bottles and towels to the yellow team.

"A game that's fun is a game we win," replied Nishinoya.

"Of course it is,"

Ennoshita drank some water before he said, "Kageyama really got me with that last point though, because of me we're all tied up now."

"What! No! I missed three receives. It's my fault," said Yamaguchi.

Tanaka got Ennoshita into a headlock and started ruffling his hair. "Whoever's mistake it is, it doesn't matter," he let go of him then did the same to Yamaguchi.

"I feel like we're at nationals already," said a tired Asahi.

"Quiet down, Nishinoya might hear you then he'll tell you to man up again," Kiyoko said as she gave water bottles and towels to the other team.

"O-ok."

"I'm really starting to get annoyed with the other team confusing me with the numbers," said Hinata.

"If you finally got it in your head that you're number two now, this wouldn't even be a problem," said Tsukishima.

"Why are you so mean?"

"Why are you so stupid?"

There was silence within the team.

"...Anyways—" Daichi was interrupted by a whistle from Ukai.

"He couldn't spare us one more minute, could he?" Asahi said while he limped back on the court with the rest of his team.

————————————————————————————————————

The turquoise team wasn't going to let down now. They can't. They have a window of opportunity: Narita has been rotated to the back so their main blocker is gone, Nishinoya is on the right instead of the center where he can cover more of the area, and Ennoshita is on the front so their second best receiver is gone. Make the most of it.

And they will.

Asahi served the ball, doing his best to aim at Yamaguchi every time. Yamaguchi was tired from being picked on with serves, he knew that being the worse receiver on the team meant this but he didn't expect it to be this bad. He lost them so many points, but he's willing to get at least some of them back. Receive.

The ball launched up into the air in a strange angle. Sugawara ran across the court to get to the ball in time, seeing his teammates in the front getting ready to spike while the opponents were getting ready to block.

_Who should I send it to?_

He eventually decided to send it to Tanaka, who was immediately blocked by Tsukishima on the other side.

Ennoshita glanced at the scoreboard. 15–17. _We could just give it to the other team, but then again Nishinoya and Tanaka wouldn't stop bothering me about it._

As Ukai spectated the match from above the net, he could see the hunger for victory on their faces. This was supposed to be a game for fun, but how did it get to this? Well, it was just the instincts of the players in Karasuno. Fly high. Fly to the top.

A few more rallies went on until eventually the turquoise team had match point.

_16–19, 16–19. Just one more point and it's our loss. So I must... receive!_ Yamaguchi felt the sting of the ball ricocheting on him.

"Number uhhhh....t-tw—"

"Number Ten, send it to Three!" Narita corrected.

A little confusion was heard from the other side of the net, followed by a "Dumbass!" and a slap on the head.

Sugawara did as he said and sent it to him. It was like time stopped for Tanaka, every part of him doing nothing but focusing on getting this ball straight to the floor on the other side of this net. There was a wall on front of him. And his job is to break it. Luckily however, he's great at breaking things.

***Smack***

The ball flew straight down, not even giving a chance to the receivers. Let's win this game!

The rallies got longer and longer as time went on. Receive after receive, spike after spike. The fatigue crashed into all of them like a wave, with the fact that they haven't gotten much rest from the training camp.

"How did they manage to catch up?!” Hinata asked.

"By spiking and scoring points," replied Tsukishima.

"18–19. We just need one more point... and it's Yamaguchi's turn to serve," said Daichi with a sigh.

”Of all times," added Asahi.

The ball is served and barely, just barely was able to be received by Daichi. Kageyama set the ball to Hinata and the efforts of perfecting their god-like quick was shown. Down the ball went, but Ennoshita managed to slide his hand under just in time. The ball is back up and down into Sugawara's hands to set it to Narita. It was blocked by Tsukishima, and it ricocheted into the air. Yamaguchi and Ennoshita were too far to get it.

The sounds of his footsteps were getting louder with each progressive effort to receive the ball in time. Everything was blank except for his goal. _I have to get it!_ With a dive, the game is still in play thanks to Nishinoya.

The ball was covered by Yamaguchi who sent it to Sugawara. Setter dump. Nothing. He couldn't beat the fast reflexes of Hinata, who used his leg to save it. This was the longest rally yet.

"Five, last spike!" Daichi shouted.

Asahi nodded and Kageyama set the ball to their approaching ace in the back row.

Narita, Tanaka, and Sugawara were right in front of him ready to block.

_The battle in the air is truly a marvel isn't it? Something I can never participate in, yet... as long as I keep the ball in play. Even if we aren't on the same team. Our ace will score._

The ball met with Asahi's hand and he watched as all his strength broke through the block on the other side. 18–20. Ukai blew the whistle and gestured the win to the players in turquoise.

Cheers and praises were heard on one side while the other was rather dull. Ukai commended the whole team for their efforts and the plays they made. As well as giving him funny things to remember whenever he needed a laugh, thanks to them messing up with the numbers. The team was about to go back and switch to their normal jersey numbers, but was interrupted by two second-years.

"One more set! Until we win!"

"Didn't you both say earlier that you were going to win this set?" Tsukishima asked.

"Shut up!"

Everyone looked at each other, then to their coach.

"Well, what are you all waiting for? Switch numbers again!"

They all played another set, and another... and another. Tanaka and Nishinoya really wouldn't give up until they win, despite how tired they already are.

Daichi glanced at the two delinquents begging coach Ukai to have another set, then he noticed Kinoshita and Narita lying down on the floor trying to catch a break.

"Please, never switch numbers during matches again."

————————————————————————————————————

A/N: I know the rotation and positioning most likely isn't accurate. All my volleyball knowledge is solely from Haikyuu like many other fans, but nonetheless, I wish you enjoyed this first chapter of hopefully many to come. Criticism is much appreciated and if you liked this, then why not consider leaving a kudos or a comment, or maybe even both :)) See ya in the next one-shot!


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